Dead or Alive on AllMovie

Although rather grandly dedicated to "the law officers of the Old West, who led the fight for law and order in the pioneer days of this country in 1880," Dead or Alive was merely another entry inThe Texas Rangers series, PRC's low-budget answer to Republic Pictures' Three Mesqueteers Westerns. Series regulars Dave Wyatt (Dave O'Brien) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson) are joined by lawyer Tex Haines (Tex Ritter) in their fight against outlaw leader Clint Yackey (Ray Bennett). Yackey, the ruthless owner of the Half Way Saloon, has framed Dave Wyatt in a bank robbery and the young ranger is about to be hanged when rescued in the nick of time by Tex and Panhandle. The usual Western shenanigans end in a rather brutal free-for-all involving Yackey, chief henchman Red Avery (Charles King), and the entire gang. The rangers and Tex emerge the winners, of course, much to the delight of lovely Arline Arthur (Marjorie Clements), the legal owner of the Half Way. Ritter, who made his series debut replacing James Newill, sang several songs, including his own "I Don't Care Since You Told Me Goodbye." But despite Ritter's engaging presence, The Texas Rangers series remained a shoddy proposition typical of PRC, a studio known affectionately along Poverty Row as "Pretty Rotten Crud."